


50 Orbs for Gray

by Jbee



Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [6]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23660482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jbee/pseuds/Jbee
Summary: Kiran is feeling lucky today, but can she use this luck to help a new hero out?
Relationships: Gray/Summoner (Fire Emblem)
Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703545
Kudos: 7





	50 Orbs for Gray

**Author's Note:**

> This series is a collection of short stories driven by the FEH Subreddit Weekly Writing Prompts. First Published February 4, 2020. "Kiran is trying to summon a Hero and just...can't!"

Kiran bobbed her head as she hummed a tune she must have picked up from last week’s talent show. It was the first day of the week and everything seemed to just be falling into place. She was feeling pretty lucky. She managed to get out of bed on the first wake-up call, she didn’t burn her toast, and surprisingly enough she was even able to find matching socks and be out the door on time for her morning meeting. She was not one to believe in luck, but today felt different.

The sun was shining through the windows, and warming up the castle which felt full of life, and alive. Kiran held her journal to her side, filled with her reports, her coat was open and loose allowing the sunlight to soak into her sweater and warm her skin. she tucked her dirty blond tendrils behind her ear, closing her gray green eyes and breathing deeply. She smiled to herself, it wouldn’t be long before spring would be here and many of the Askran festivals would start to take place. She opened her eyes, many heroes were beginning to gather in the halls to take their morning tea. She smiled at them, and they smiled back, even the guards seemed to have warmed up to her. It was a far cry from what it felt like last year around this time, when she first arrived in Askr.

Kiran turn the corner to the grand war room where her, the leaders of the order, as well as a handful of other heroes met to discuss important business, such as summoning strategies, battles and events. As she approached the room she noticed a young man with dark messy hair, wearing a green tunic with bits of leather metal thrown together creating makeshift armor. He leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, looking down with a lazy smile on his face. He was clearly waiting for something, or someone.

“Kiran, right?” the young man asked without looking up as she walked by, “I was told you’re the one I need to talk to.”

Kiran stopped when she heard her name. Heroes approaching her was not out of the ordinary, and since she was making great time this morning, she had a few moments to help out this young hero.

“I am!” she said turning on her heel to greet him, “What can I help you with?”

“Name’s Gray,” he smiled, standing upright from the wall and thumbing towards himself, “I’m from a little place called Ram’s Village, you probably haven’t heard of it.”

“No, I haven’t, sorry.” Kiran replied, “Are you looking to go back?” she inquired, wanting to get to the point quickly.

“Oh, no, no, nooo.” Gray laugh, and shook both his hands in front of him, “I was wondering about my friends who are also from the Village. Ya’see I haven’t really seen any of them since I arrived and I thought I would ask around.”

“Well, they might just not be here.” Kiran said gently, it was normal for new heroes to ask about their kin when they first arrived, “Who are you looking for?”

“Well, my best friend, Tobin. He’s about this high, and this wide.” Gray answered raising his hand about a little taller than himself, and opening his arms to about his own width, “He has redish-brown hair, and eyes, and clothes, and well…” he laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, “he’s just kinda redish-brown all over!”

Kiran laughed too, she wanted him to feel relaxed and she was now a bit nervous about breaking the bad news to him.

“Yeah, I’m sorry to say, but there’s no one by the name of Tobin here. But if you wanted to check out the training tower, there’s lots of other heroes around your age there.” She smiled and brushed some lint off his shoulder, “I’m sure someone as outgoing as you are will have no problems making a few friends! Okay?” she asked and turned to leave for the war room where she could see the others assembling, so much for being early, she thought to herself.

“Wait!” Gray said, as he quickly cut in front of her, stopping Kiran in her path, “What about Alm? Or Kliff? I know I saw Celica, so Alms got to be here, right?” he asked his eyes wide and hopeful.

“I…I’m sorry, I never heard of those guys before.” She told him gently, “I guess they just haven’t been summoned here yet. That’s just how it goes.” Kiran wanted to wrap this up and get on her way. “Trust me, go check out the tower, it will help take your mind off things!” she gave Gray an encouraging smile, but she could tell by his expression and furrowed brow these were not the answers he was hoping to hear.

“Kiran?” Alfonse was leaning out of the war room entrance, hanging on to the door frame with one arm, “Sorry to interrupt, are you ready? He quietly asked, he knew all too well the kind of conversation that was taking place in the hall.

“Yup!” Kiran responded, “You’ll be fine, you’ll see.” she tried to reassure Gray, “If you have any other questions, just come and find me!” she added with a smile and turned to leave.

Gray didn’t respond, and avoided eye contact with Kiran. He sighed, let himself fall back against the wall in defeat.

Alfonse eyed the young man, and he whispered to Kiran as she passed by, entering the room. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” She said, with a little less confidence in her voice. Kiran tried to shake it off, “Nothing I can’t handle!”

* * *

Kiran was tapping the end of her pen to the rhythm of the song stuck in her head against the ink well on the oak desk. Her morning meeting had concluded early, but she had decided to take advantage of the empty room, and stay behind to get some extra paperwork done. The room was quiet except for her humming and voices coming from the hallway. She stared at the intricate pattern on the wallpaper, head propped up by her arm while her elbow rested on the desk. She was trying to finish her report but her mind kept wandering, thinking about all that had been discussed that morning. The seers reported something big coming to Askr, the specifics weren’t clear to them, but they were all fixated on the number three, and she couldn’t help but fantasize about what it could mean.

“Hey again!” Gray said as he slid into the chair opposite from Kiran, both arms crossed on the desk leaning in on them, causing the desk to rock. Kiran was caught off guard, flinching her arm and flicking her pen toward herself, cause splotches of black ink to land on her cheek, as well as her report, leaving a long smear where the tip of the pen landed and rolled across the parchment.

“Oh! Here let me get that.” He said as he reached over and tried to wiped the ink spot from Kiran’s face, knocking the desk again.

Kiran stopped the ink well from tipping over with the palm of her hand, but wasn’t quick enough to intervene as Gray’s thumb made contact with the ink spot and smudged it across her cheek.

“Stop! it’s fine, it’s fine,” she recoiled, swatting at his hand away. She looked at the black ring on her palm, and the fine mess that was her report, and sighed.

Gray grimaced, and wiped his hand on his pant leg, the damage was already done, “I’m so sorry!” he said, grabbing some blotting paper, pounce, and a rag, “And here I was trying to make a good impression!” he laughed.

Kiran tried to find the humor in it, “heh, Gary, what can I do for you?” she asked as she wiped her hand on the rag.

“Gray.” He corrected her but quickly continued, “So I was thinking about what you said earlier,” he said, returning to leaning slightly over the table on his crossed arms, “Maybe we can just summon them here?” He gave Kiran a crooked smile and his eyes sparkled.

“What?” Kiran she asked as she wiped her cheek with the rag, she was trying to recall the earlier conversation exactly; she couldn’t remember making plans to summon anyone.

“Yeah, you mentioned that my friends hadn’t been summoned here… yet.” Gray told her, “So I was thinking maybe you and I can go summon them, like you summoned me!”

Kiran looked away, she didn’t have the heart to tell Gray that his arrival to Askr was completely random, and he wasn’t the intended target of their session last week.

She took a deep breath, “Look, I’m sorry if you got the wrong idea, but it just doesn’t work like that.” she shrugged her shoulders and looked back at him, “Besides, I can’t just go out and summon on a whim. There’s rules, and Soren likes to keep a very, *very* detailed record of how much is used per session, and how many heroes come through the portal as well as who they are and what they do. It’s all very involved.” She explained sitting up, trying to make it sound more complicated, hoping of overwhelming him with information so he would give up this idea and leave her alone.

“But it can be done, right? It doesn’t have to be all of them, just one. What if I helped you?” he asked eagerly, his eyes two big pools of hope, making Kiran’s heart sink.

“Well, this friend of yours, what can they do?” she asked, maybe she could ask Soren for a small budget, if she could justify the attempt.

“Oh Tobin? He’s like me! He wields a sword and we tend to stay together on the front lines.” Gray told her, smiling and beaming with pride. “he’s a bit dense, but he can make quick work of anyone with heavy plate!”

Nope, Kiran thought, there’s no way in Múspell that Soren would approve of this. But she was having such a good day, and the Order did have a surplus of resources at their disposal, as well as a potential windfall on its way. Maybe she would get lucky! She thought about how good it felt to be at the summoning circle and sighed, which turned into lengthy groan as she caved into Gray’s request.

“Okay, fine! You’ll get fifty orbs to try and summon Tobin, no more than that! Come on, we have to go pick up the ledger first.” She stood up, it was almost lunch and she figured they could sneak into Soren’s office to take the summoning ledger. If she was going to do this, she was at least going to do it right. Plus, it would be easier to ask for forgiveness after she thought. “But, you can’t breathe a word about this to anyone, this summoning session is our little secret, got it?” she looked directly in his big eyes, and Grays cockeyed grin only got bigger as he nodded in agreement.

“A secret summoning session you say?” A light singsongy voice said from the entrance of the room.

Kiran grimaced and clenched her fists, oh no, she thought, as she turned to see Sothis, the small dragon goddess from Fódlan. She was standing off to the side, her big green eyes wide and a clever smile across her face, her long green mane flowed around her small frame, and she held the hand of an even smaller divine dragon, with fluffy pink hair, Fae, who stared intently at Kiran and Gray happily sucking on a piece of hard candy.

“Yeah!” Gray laughed rubbing the back of his head, “We’re going to summon for my friend Tobin!” he exclaimed, “Maybe you and your friend should come along.” He asked in a low husky voice, with his crooked smile.

“What are you doing?” Kiran hissed, stammering around the side of the desk, and grabbing Gray’s sleeve.

“Hey, come on, don’t sweat it,” Gray whispered trying to reassure Kiran, “Besides we could use the help!” he wiggled out of her grasp and sauntered over to Sothis, “Name’s Gray, So, how about it?” he asked trying to charm them.

“This does sound interesting!” Sothis mused, “My name is Sothis, I’m also known as… The Beginning, and this is Fae.” she introduced herself in her usual fashion, as Fae grinned and continued to work on her candy.

“Well, you are *beginning* to steal my heart.” Gray told her smugly, with a wide grin and offered her his arm.

“Oh my.” Sothis giggled, placing her arm around his, her regalia tinkling as she moved, “Come Fae, let us find out what awaits this poor soul. I do find him amusing.” She said as she allowed Gray to escort them from of the room.

“Son of a bitch...” Kiran mumbled under her breath as she stuffed the loose parchments of her ruined report into her journal. It’s fine, she reassured herself, I can still get lucky.

* * *

Kiran lightly knocked on the wooden door, pushing it open just a crack, “Hello-o-o-o?” she called out, just to make sure there was no one in the office. Soren had become quite the collector once he settled in to the castle. There were stacks of tomes cluttering the floor, heaps of scrolled maps, and different oddities and curiosities lining the shelves.

“Ahh, what’s that smell!?” Gray winced as they walked in the dim room, “It’s like someone’s grandma gave them a giant bouquet of flowers, and then died.” He covered his nose with his sleeve.

“I find the strongest smells have the most character.” Sothis said breathing in, and spinning an orrery in the corner of the room.

“Oooo!” Fae squealed as she ran over a collection of mounted insects sitting on the shelves.

Kiran quickly grabbed Fae before she could reach it, lifting her up and plopping her down on a stack of books,

“Fae stay right here, and don’t move.” she told her. Kiran walked over to the curtain and took a hold of the long thick tassel and pulled it open, letting more of the light in.

“Okay, so we have to find the summoning ledger, it’s a dark blue leather book, with a golden Askran crest stamped on the front. Just spread out and try not to move too much around. Got it?” she said moving to the large wooden desk, and starting to rummage through the stacks of parchments and tomes.

The room was more cluttered then Kiran had recalled. She picked up an old note she found on the desk, a note written by her in the summer, begging him to reconsider his refusal to teach Laslow some choice skills. He caved in the end of course, but this was a bittersweet memory and a reminder that it had been awhile since she had been to Soren’s office. He had been in Askr almost as long as she had, and had worked his way through the Orders ranks securing one of the highest positions working as a close confidant and advisor. Kiran always considered Soren to be one of her closest friends, even if they bickered and he treated her more like his competition, but she knew he was happy here and could see him setting down roots as time went by. Kiran wonder if she would ever do the same someday, but for now she had to find that ledger and get out of here. “He’s going to kill me.” She nervously laughed to herself.

“Hey, check it out…” Gray declared, picking up a large silver claymore, “It’s gotta bunch of girls names scratched into it,” He started swinging it around, “I like it.” he said with a grin.

“Oooh I know who that belongs to…” Sothis chimed in skipping over to Gray.

“Put it down.” Kiran commanded, “We don’t have time to goof off. Just find the book.” She was getting frustrated and nervous; Soren would be back from lunch soon.

“Maybe we just, you know, wing it?” Gray said, he clearly wasn’t interested in continuing the search and flopped down on the couch.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Kiran replied softly, it seemed finding the summoning ledger was a lost cause in all this junk. “Fine. Let’s go.” She said defeated. “You’ll just have to keep track in your head.” She told them, picking Fae up and holding her to her side like a child, Fae had finished her candy and was partially asleep at this point.

“Time to p-play?” Fae cooed and clutched on to Kiran, snuggling into to her neck.

“AH HA!” Sothis cried, picking up the dark blue ledger that was on the top of the stack of books Kiran had placed Fae on when they first arrived. “It was here all along! Sometimes I truly wonder how you mortals get on without me.” She giggled as she picked up the book in triumph.

“Mortals?” Gray quietly questioned, he had not quite grasped whose company he was keeping that afternoon.

“Of course it was under Fae’s butt…” Kiran groaned, “Let’s get this over with.” She told them carrying Fae out the door, followed by the others. The day is still salvageable, maybe she would get lucky and even summon a few extra new heroes, she couldn’t wait to get out to the circle and try her luck.

* * *

The wind picked up around Kiran as she pointed Breidablik at the summoning gates. She turned her face away and covered her eyes with her other hand and lightly squeezed the trigger, choosing her target.

“Come on, come on, come on. Please, please, please…” she quietly pleaded to anything that would listen to take mercy on her, and just send the hero she needed to summon.

It had taken a good chunk of the afternoon to hike out to the summoning circle, normally this is something that would have taken place first thing in the morning, but Kiran was banking on this being a quick fifty orb session and to be back at the castle before the sunset, but things weren’t going to plan. They ended up stopping various times as they passed through villages and by farms. Sothis wanted to look at this or that, Fae wanted to play with anything that moved, and now they had been at the circle for a three quarters of an hour and summoning was starting to take its toll on her. It was becoming harder for Kiran to keep track of what was coming through the gate, and the colours and faces started to blur together as she focused her energy more on wielding Breidablik.

Kiran could hear Fae singing in the background, and Sothis chatting to the heroes that had come through the gate, recording their information. Most of the heroes were familiar with Askr and stayed off to the side, but there might have been one or two new additions and they kept to themselves, it was getting harder for Kiran to recall who was there. She held the scared weapon to her forehead and closed her eyes, she was starting to feel a sharp pain in her head, one of the first signs she had been at this for too long. Kiran took in a deep breath and tried to relax her body, she pointed Breidablik once again at the gate.

The wind picked up and warm light mist poured out towards her, with flashes of reds, blues, greens, as stones swirled around her, and the familiar sounds of chimes rang softly in her ears. As exhausted as summoning made her, this sensation always felt good and she had been curious if the others at the circle could see what she saw, or how she felt and wondered what it was like to be on the other side of the light as a spectator of the event. Kiran shook her head, to stop her mind from wandering, the second sign of summoning fatigue. She focused on the colour she wanted, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

“No…” Kiran felt the energy pull away as the summoning couldn’t be completed. It’s wasn’t often she experienced this, and it left her feeling sick to her stomach, with a sour taste in her mouth. She dropped to her knees, in stunned silence.

“Summoner! Whatever is the matter!?” Sothis cried, rushing over grabbing Kiran’s arms and supporting her from the side.

Gray followed closely behind, “What happened?” he said rubbing the back of his head, “Is she going to be all right?”

“It’s all gone…” Kiran whispered, “the orbs. There’s nothing left” she could feel the blood drain from her face, “He’s going to feed me to Ike.” she cried, and let her head dropped and she stared at Breidablik laying in her lap.

“You fool!” Sothis yelled, turning to Gray, “You were tasked of tracking the amount or orbs that were used. Why did you not stop her at fifty like commanded?” She stood up to confront Gray, cracks of electricity starting to build between her fingers, the sky had already turned reddish-orange from the setting sun, but the building energy Sothis was collecting caused streaks of purples and blues to blaze across the heavens.

“Whoa, whoa, come on! I had a good feeling, I thought we were going to get lucky!” Gray pleading with Sothis, backing away, “And… and we were having such a good time, right?”

Kiran saw a flash of lightning and could hear the crack of thunder followed by Fae cheering in the background. Her vision began to blur with lights beginning to flare and sounds becoming distant. She felt the cold stone scrape on her cheek as her body succumbed to the exhaustion and the last thing she heard was Sothis telling Gray that _“she was about to show him a good time”_.  
  


* * *

The sound of voices arguing stirred Kiran from her sleep. She felt something cold and sharp brush across her cheek, moving her hair away from her face. Kiran groaned and tried to sit up, remembering where she was before she passed out. Her head was pounding.

“You should lay back down.” A deep hollow voice instructed her, “You’ve pushed yourself too hard again Kiran. I know what this is doing to your mind, you don’t… yet.” The voice was low and ominous.

She wearily opened her eyes, only to see a ghastly blue illuminated grin with two bright red eyes staring back at her from the darkness, a face she hadn’t seen in a long time, Líf, General of Hel’s army, and he was knelt at her side.

“Oh good, now I’m dead.” she sighed, looking at her reaper, “At least Soren can’t get to me now…” she mumbled sarcastically rubbing her head.

Blue mist drifted around his face as he chuckled quietly, staring at her.

“Hey!” a familiar voice called out, “I told you to stay away from her!” Kiran looked up to see Alfonse quickly marching over, his face flushed red.

Líf looked away from Kiran, there was sadness in his eyes. He stood up, casting a light blue glow on his younger counterpart as he towered over Alfonse. He scoffed producing more mist to cascade from his jagged jawline. Without a word He turned to leave rejoining the other heroes that had been summoned that day.

“You are the last person I wanted to see come through those gates.” Alfonse hissed quietly through his teeth, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. He then turned his attention to Kiran, helping her to her feet, “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Tired. But okay.” She answered, the pain in her head was subsiding, “Alfonse, I really messed up. It’s all gone…” she choked.

“I know. Sothis and Gray explained what happened.” He said looking over to a small group of soldiers.

Kiran’s eye adjusted to the darkness, the snow around them helped emphasize the torchlight, she could see Sothis sitting on Gray, her arms crossed ignoring him as he begged for her to get off him.

“How are *you* this heavy?” he shouted at her, waving his arms around.

“Did you just imply that I am over my weight?” Sothis gasped and pinched his arm hard and he cried out again. Fae was curled up to Gray’s side, soundly sleeping through all the action taking place around her.

Kiran shook her head, “How did you know to come out here?” she asked.

“When Soren reported the ledger missing, and I could not find you in the castle, it was not hard to put two and two together.” Alfonse laughed, “The others were taking care of the gauntlet, so I took a few soldiers and came out here on my own. I did not expect there to be a fight, well, if you can call that a fight anyways.” He gestured towards Sothis and Gray.

Sothis had finally let Gray up, giving him the cold shoulder and picking up Fae carrying her like a child. Everyone gathered up their equipment and were ready to return to the castle.

“So who were you trying to summon?” Alfonse asked, he helped her down the stairs.

“Oh, Gray’s friend.” Kiran said, taking her time down the steps, “Tobin, I think his name was.” She squinted trying to recall.

“Tobin?” Alfonse stopped, turning to look at her, “I know that name, he’s been to Askr. Before you joined us here.” He told her.

“What?” Kiran did not know what to say to this news.

“He came through the tempest vortex, but returned home soon after it closed.” Alfonse laughed, “Kiran, you did not have to summon for him, in fact, there is no way it would have been possible to bring him here through those gates. It just cannot be done!”

Kiran closed her eyes, she felt so dumb, “You mean I just had to talk to the seers for them to perform the grail rites?” Kiran asked, she had completely forgot, she had only used them a few times in the past.

“Yeah, but it’s doubtful there will be any summoning, or rites, being performed for a while now.” Alfonse told her, they began walking again, “I think Soren is going to keep the Orders purse strings pretty tight right now. Will you tell Gray about his friend?”

“Not right away.” Kiran was still ticked off about what happened earlier, “Someday, but he can suffer for a bit first. I might have to deploy him under Sothis’ command.” She added grinning. “Hey, did you figure out what the number three means from the seer’s report?” she asked, she was still very curious about that morning’s meeting.

“No, nothing more has been revealed to us, you better pray for something big to happen to make up for this loss! Maybe you will get lucky for once.” he chuckled.

She lightly touched Breidablik, that was at her side, “There’s no such thing as luck.” She said softly.  
  


End.


End file.
